Islamabad on August 12, : The State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) reserves of foreign currency decreased to their lowest point in nearly three years, at $7.83 billion as of August 5, down from $8.385 billion one week earlier, based on debt payments according to figures from the central bank show.The foreign reserves that are held by the State Bank of Pakistan dropped by $555 million or 6.6 percent on the daily basis because of an increase in debt payments and a deficiency of funding from outside sources, The News reported.
The central bank’s data revealed reserves fell to their lowest levels since October of this year.
The total liquid foreign reserves of Pakistan dropped in value by 648 million dollars or 4.6 percent to $13.561 billion.The reserves of commercial banks fell 1.6 percent to $5.730 billion.
The reserves that are available with the SBP are sufficient to cover just the cost of importing for a month.
The SBP, in a statement that it released, stated that the decrease in the reverse resulted from debt repayments from external sources.
“Debt obligations are anticipated to decrease over the final three weeks of this month,” the central bank stated.”In fact, nearly three-quarters of service for debt in the month of August was concentrated in the initial week.”
The most recent figures for reserves in the forex market are released at a time when the country faces dwindling external financing with the reserves dwindling rapidly in the midst of a stagnant program of $6 billion International Monetary Fund programme, The News reported.
Analysts are expecting the possibility of a resumption of the IMF program and the anticipated lower deficit in the current account amid lower imports as a way to increase the amount of foreign reserves.
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